Mr. Labrador said that we, the United States, should "deport these children immediately"and his reasoning was that it was creating a crisis on our border.
What kind of country are we becoming when we immediately deport children without even asking why or how this is happening? Are we that heartless of a nation to do such as thing? We are a nation of immigrants for cryin' out loud. We're not experts in Central American affairs we admit, but perhaps there's a humanitarian crisis occurring in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala that needs to be addressed, after all this is in our background, not on the other side of the globe. And where is Mexico in all this?
Mr. Labrador did rightly point out that the Secretary of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson, couldn't say what would happen to these children, putting it that we have 'to do right by the children.' We'll answer the question of whether or not we'll deport all the children at the border, and the answer is: We don't know. We've gotten way past the point in our politics that no person in Congress or an administration can in fact level with the American people, and this is another huge, glaring example.
Secretary Johnson, or any administration official for that matter, definitely can not say 'I don't know' to any question, when the real answer is 'not all, but probably most.'
The congressman's statement is intended to send the message to the people of these countries to stop sending your children here because if you do, they will immediately be sent back. It plays very well with the Tea Party Republican base, of whom he is a vocal advocate. We would agree with the sentiment that we do not want children making the treacherous, 1000-mile journey hanging from trains, but if they do manage to get here, we should find out the whole story, don't you think?
With further regard for the Congressman, later in the interview, Mr. Labrador did concede a few points, which shows that he is listening at the very least, and we do like that. But also later, he put the blame mostly on the Central American drug cartels and the gangs associated with them. He tempered his rhetoric and then couldn't cast blame for this humanitarian crisis on the Obama Administration.
And it brings us to the point Mr. Labrador made about the children that on this trek, they could be kidnapped, raped, robbed, harmed (to use a word of his) or potentially killed. So what are we going to do; immediately deport children back to their country where they most probably face that same fate at the hands of gangs.
The law that grandfathered in immigrant minors to have legal status here was passed in 2008, but Mr. Obama took office; not to mention the fact that Mr. Obama is to the right of President Bush when it comes to the number of deportations.
Mr. Johnson said that all of these migrants will go through a deportation evaluation and process, which is simply the prudent thing to do, and that's why we said, not all but probably most. And if that's the case, then so be it.
We often use the example that if economic conditions in this country were so poor to the point where if someone came to you and send, there's a great job for you in Germany, pays 5x what you're making now, but you'd be illegal; to feed your family you would do it.
So to Mr. Labrador, we say to just tone it down, but don't be so harsh or heartless... Be American and reread what it says on the Statue of Liberty.
"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breath free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore, send these, the homeless, tempest tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
OK, a little magnanimous, but we're humanitarians over here and we (The United States) just celebrated a birthday! Why not?
Round Table: Chuck Todd, Political
Director & Chief White House Correspondent NBC News;
Carolyn Ryan, Washington
Bureau Chief, The New York Times; Lori Montenegro,
National
Correspondent, Telemundo; Michael Gerson, Columnist,
The Washington Post
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